Office has blocked access to the following embedded object to keep you safe

A user complained that Outlook was blocking access to a Word document attachment he sent to a Task using Word's Create Outlook Task command.

I'm receiving this message in Outlook when opening a task created by Microsoft Word:

"Outlook blocked access to the following potentially unsafe attachments"

I tried the Level1Remove registry fix but this did not work. I disabled Protected View (in Trust Settings) within Word. Still no go. Why is Outlook blocking attachments from its own software (Word)?

This security issue affects Outlook 2007 and up. The file is blocked because it's not a doc file, it's a *shortcut* to the doc file and shortcuts are potentially "dangerous".

You need to configure the security settings to not block the file. In Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010 you can use the following registry keys to change the Security settings. You'll need to restart Outlook for the keys to take effect.

Enabling ShowLevel1Attach will allow users to open or save potentially dangerous attachments. While an updated antivirus will catch older exploits if users try to save or open the attachment, it could miss new exploits not yet in it's virus definition file.

When you double click on an embedded object, a warning message may be triggered:

Some objects contain viruses that can be harmful to your computer. It is important to be certain that this object is from a trustworthy source.
Do you trust this embedded object?

This dialog is controlled by the AllowInPlaceOLEActivation registry value.  Enabling it will allow the embedded object to open without triggering the warning message.

Outlook 2016

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\security DWORD: ShowOLEPackageObj Value: 1 DWORD: AdminSecurityMode Value: 3 DWORD: ShowLevel1Attach Value: 1 DWORD: AllowInPlaceOLEActivation Value: 1

Outlook 2013

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\security DWORD: ShowOLEPackageObj Value: 1 DWORD: AdminSecurityMode Value: 3 DWORD: ShowLevel1Attach Value: 1 DWORD: AllowInPlaceOLEActivation Value: 1

Outlook 2010

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\security DWORD: ShowOLEPackageObj Value: 1 DWORD: AdminSecurityMode Value: 3 DWORD: ShowLevel1Attach Value: 1 DWORD: AllowInPlaceOLEActivation Value: 1

Outlook 2007

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\security DWORD: ShowOLEPackageObj Value: 1 DWORD: AdminSecurityMode Value: 3 DWORD: ShowLevel1Attach Value: 1 DWORD: AllowInPlaceOLEActivation Value: 1

Do It For Me

I have a reg file to unblock all attachments and OLE objects (containing the values above). Download and run the .reg file for your version of Outlook.

Network users may be blocked by group policy, so this should only be used by SOHO users - everyone else should speak to their admin.

ShowLevel1Attach 2016 ShowLevel1Attach 2013
ShowLevel1Attach 2010 ShowLevel1Attach 2007

You'll need to restart Outlook for the key to take effect.

In the Microsoft® Office® Trust Center, if the box for a file type is selected, then that file type is blocked from opening or saving. You should always allow the files types stored in your file management program (for example, CCH® ProSystem fx® Engagement or CCH Axcess™ Document) to be opened.

You can edit the Trust Center settings by doing the following:

1. Open Microsoft® Word.
2. Click File.
3. Click Options.
4. Click Trust Center.
5. Click Trust Center Settings.
6. Click File Block Settings.
7. Select any file types that you want to block from opening. Clear the boxes for any file types that you want to be able to open with your Wolters Kluwer products.
8. Click OK twice to get out of the options screen.
9. Repeat the previous steps for Microsoft® Excel® and Microsoft® Outlook®.

Solution Id	000039718/You-are-trying-to-open-a-file-type-that-is-blocked-by-your-trust-center-settings-when-trying-to-open-a-Microsoft-Office-file
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